Hadi Salih, International Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions, was assasinated this week. Speaking in Japan on December 6, 2004, he said:

“War does not serve the people of Iraq. Occupation doesn’t help democracy. The labour movement in Japan has been fighting for the future of Japan ever since the end of World War II, and they are living this future today and tomorrow. If they can do it, we can too. There is no reason why we can’t fight for the future of Iraq. That’s why I am enthusiastic.”

Following is a release from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions upon learning of Hadi Salih’s murder:

BRUSSELS, 6 January 2005, ICFTU Online: The ICFTU today expressed its deep shock and revulsion at the brutal torture and murder of Hadi Salih, International Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) at his Baghdad home on Tuesday night (4 January). “This vicious murder is nothing less than an attack on the right of Iraqi workers to trade union representation. It is aimed at destabilising and undermining the development of trade unions as cornerstones of development and respect for human rights”, said ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder.

By Cliff Kindy, Christian Peacemaker Teams
January 5, 2005

Dear Friends, Family, and All Good People,

The good news is that we had 5 electrical generating towers burning a week ago and one day we had 17 hours of electricity from the grid! The bad news is that two days later the oil refinery in Dura got bombed and the fuel capacity for the electricity plants in Baghdad was knocked out and we have had only 3 - 7 hours of grid per day since then. The good news is the warm weather and sunshine that came since Christmas. The bad news is that we have had so many suicide bomb blasts and so much helicopter and fighter jet traffic that the smog blocks the sun. But I am alive, my spirits are good, and spring is just a month or so around the corner!

This week we have received more information about Fallujah and the 200,000 refugees who fled that city of 300,000. We have visited refugees, gotten our own reports from Red Crescent, and talked with Iraqi and foreign journos who have been in the refugee camps. I read a report that said the US invasion of Fallujah was one of the largest armored invasions in history. The resistance was well dug in and able to knock out Abrams tanks with shoulder fired rockets. Many US soldiers and resistance fighters died, but the civilian population bore the brunt of the catastrophe. The resistance still controls large sections of the city. Little infrastructure is left, half of the 90 mosques are totally destroyed, reports I have seen mention that homes are unlivable, belongings have been trashed and burned. Detainee numbers have nearly doubled, we heard today from a human rights worker west of Baghdad. He says that the prisons and the treatment of detainees by the US is the best training camp for the resistance. Our contacts in the US military and Iraqi government tell of two prisons; this colleague shared an al-Harat report from Britain detailing 19 US prisons across Iraq and 150 contractors working on another huge one near Nasariya. We have not been able to get reliable reports of what is happening with these detainees from recent operations. This HR worker says many are being held long-term in US military bases so they are not listed on the detainee files.